£1 million funding for cancer research studentships

Nine PhDs to be supported thanks to largest gift to date from Myristica Trust.

The Myristica Trust has awarded £1 million to Cardiff University to fund nine cancer research PhD studentships over the next three years.

The fully-funded studentships will support cancer research across the University and projects could range from cancer prevention and early diagnosis, to drug discovery. Each year, one studentship will focus on genomics and genome instability research within the Genetic and Genome Medicine sub-division, headed up by Professor Duncan Baird.

The Myristica Trust has funded cancer research at Cardiff University for over 18 years, most recently funding a Bioinformatics PhD studentship for £100,000. This new commitment of £1 million builds on its existing relationship with Professor Baird and his team and extends its support to wider cancer research across the University.

Professor Duncan Baird, lead for Genetic and Genome Medicine within the Division of Cancer and Genetics and member of the Systems Immunity University Research Institute, said: “We are extremely grateful to The Myristica Trust for its generous donation and continued support of our research. This funding means that a new generation of cancer scientists will be trained here in Wales to continue the fight against this dreadful disease.”

Myristica Trust said: “This donation is testament to the longstanding relationship the Trust has with Cardiff University and our respect for the work of Professor Baird’s lab. We are now delighted to be able to extend this to support with the Trust’s largest gift to date. We are very much looking forward to seeing these studentships come to fruition and the cancer research discoveries they will bring.”

Applications invited

Applications are now invited from potential supervisors to put forward projects for three PhD studentships to start in October 2024. To find out more email cancercomms@cardiff.ac.uk.